Justice League: Unguarded
by The One Whoo
Summary: A scary space monster sneaks onto the Watchtower. It's up to the Flash to find it, and get rid of it, before the others find out he was late...
1. Chapter 1

All was silent on the Watchtower.  
On the moon.  
There was absolutely no one there, even though there should have been. At least one or two people were needed to man the Watchtower. There was always someone in the Monitor Womb, but there wasn't today.  
And the person who was supposed to be there was going to be in a heap of trouble…

* * *

"Alright, alright, calm down ladies!"  
It was a sunny afternoon in Central City. The sky was blue and the pavement and blood of these women was boiling.  
"Come on can't you just share?" Flash was franticly trying to correct the situation.  
Six age 70+ women turned to look at the Scarlet Speedster. Two of them had a blue shirt in their hands, which they had been playing tug of war over. They all stood in front of a clothes stall that was scantily protected from the heat by an awning.  
"Excuse me?" One woman protested. "Don't talk to your elders like that, whippersnapper!"  
Almost as one, the old ladies turned on him, whacking him with their bags, or whatever else they had in hand.  
"OW! YOUCH! OWWW!" He took off running down the street, hands protecting his head. The old ladies, behind him, cackled and high-fived each other, then when back to squabbling.  
The Flash sighed as the hour bell rang out over the city.  
"They are so not going to believe me…"

* * *

Normally, if a replacement couldn't make it on time, the guy from the last shift would wait, and then take it out on the person who was late.  
However, in this instance, the Flash had assured Superman that'd he'd be there quickly (and plus, this was coming from the Flash), so Superman left the tower alone, for what he thought would be about a minute or two. He had very urgent business to take care of near Rann.  
Unfortunately…that minute turned out to be an hour…and while the tower was unguarded…  
_Something_ snuck in.


	2. Chapter 2

Wally, breathlessly, appeared in a flash of white light on the tele-pad. As soon as he got reoriented, he sighed and pulled his cowl down. Shaking out his hair, he walked (yes walked) to the Monitor Womb and collapsed in the nice, comfy chair.  
Where was everyone today?  
Sure, there was a giant three-planet war going on near Thanigar, but that wouldn't take _everyone_ would it? Wally looked up at the view screens, conveniently located in front of him. The Green Lanterns were out doing something that had to do with the space-time continuum, Green Arrow and a bunch of the Leaguer's who couldn't fly /go in space were helping out in Metropolis, which was being attacked by giant robots or something…  
The Flash settled back in his chair. Auto-teleport was already on, and no one was radioing for help at the moment. Maybe he could close his eyes for a second…no one would know…  
_CRASH!_  
Flash's eyes snapped open. "What the heck was that?"  
He jumped up and looked around. It had come from outside the Monitor Womb, for sure. He raced out into the main room, his body only visible as a scarlet blur.  
"Anyone here?" he called, even though, according to the computers, no one was. At least- no one the computer knew.  
BANG!  
Flash spun around, jumpy and on edge. The sound had come from the kitchen.  
Whoosh! He was in the kitchen. Almost immediately he noticed some pots and pans on the floor. In a more extensive look, he saw that all the cupboards were open, food spilling out everywhere, and that the other side of the kitchen was a total mess. The fridge was also open, all the milk cartons upturned and vegetables in a little green pile.  
"What the heck," Flash said.  
The island in the center of the kitchen had also been devastated. The secret drawer that everyone knew about was open, revealing Jonn's previous stash of Oreos.  
Flash ran around the kitchen, looking for the culprit. On his third trip around, searching inside the cupboards and such, he slipped in a puddle of milk and fell to the floor, landing on his back. "OOF."  
He put a hand up to grab the island, and pulled himself up, slowly. As he got to eye level with the counter, he saw two little paws.  
"What?" Flash said.  
Wally wasn't really a cat person, but he didn't hate them. He thought the little guys had it good, though; humans waiting on their every need. That was enough to warrant a bit of respect. However, despite his feelings towards cats, he was still a bit shocked to find one on the island.  
"Meow," said the little black cat. It began to wash its face.  
Flash stood up straight and glared at it. "Batman doesn't let us have animals on the Watchtower…What do you want?"  
The cat looked at him plaintively. "Meow."  
Flash sat down on one of the barstools at the island. "Alright. You're a cat. I get it. Did you do this?" He waved a hand at the devastation around him. The cat looked down at the mess.  
"Well?" he asked.  
The cat hopped down from the counter and began lapping up the spilled milk.  
Flash shook his head. "I have to get you out of here before anyone gets back. Come on, cat."  
He tried to pick it up.  
"MEROW!" It protested.  
"Oh don't give me that. How did you even get on the Watchtower anyway?" he carried it out of the kitchen and back into the main room.  
That's when he noticed it had a note attached to its leg. Wally put the cat down on a couch near the teleporters and untied the string that held it in place. It was a little piece of paper, and had even smaller handwriting on it.  
"_To whoever is reading this- SOS. We are trapped in a pocket dimension and need your help. Cats are the only ones who can travel in between dimensions, and apparently the only ones who can pass these garish monsters! Not sure how much longer we can survive here. Ask the cat to transport you if you can help!  
-Preferably, it would be nice if you could fight monsters.  
HURRY."  
_The Flash shook his head. He looked at the cat. He looked at the note.  
"Are you serious?" he said.  
The cat meowed.  
Suddenly, black spots started marring Flash's vision. He felt dizzy, and the ground began to rush towards his face. WHACK!

* * *

Wally stood up. He was in a dim grey place, and he heard something rumbling behind him.  
Quickly, he stood up and ran- only to find himself facing a wall. The rumbling stopped.  
The Flash looked down at his feet in disgust. The cat sat there, its eyes shining in the dim.  
"Okay, I'm not a cat person," he said. Pulling up his cowl, he walked in the opposite direction of the wall. There appeared to be a door there.  
"Coming, cat?" he asked, without turning. Something furry rubbed against his leg.  
Cautiously, he opened the door, and peered around to look outside…


	3. Chapter 3

Bright light shone in, blinding Flash momentarily. As soon as his eyes adjusted, he noticed that this pocket dimension didn't seem very different from Earth.  
Green plants and vines and trees grew everywhere. There were all kinds of flowers and insects and animals too. So far, so normal.  
The Flash stepped confidently outside, dirt beneath his boots, cat at his heels.  
"I don't see what's so bad with this place," Flash said, expecting a monster to pop out. His words usually had that affect.  
But nothing happened.  
"Take me to your master, kitty," he said after a minute. The cat didn't do anything. "Alright fine, take me to the people who feed you."  
The cat jumped up and ran into the woods.  
Wally shook his head.  
It wasn't hard to catch up with the cat, though, admittedly, it was fast.  
_Cats can travel between dimensions,_ Wally thought as he followed after the feline. _Well, I've heard weirder._  
They stopped at a clearing, not unlike the one they had just left. The Flash mentally kicked himself. _I didn't even look to see where we came from!_  
He never did look very far ahead…  
"MEROW!" said the cat.  
Flash stopped in his tracks. Right in front of him was a woman, gazing intently at a tree.  
The woman was wearing purple and blue, her hair was up in an odd, high loop, and her glasses were slightly askew.  
"Excuse me, ma'am," the Flash said cautiously. "Are you okay? And what's up with your hair?"  
"It was in my way," she replied absently. After a minute, she turned and focused her attention on Wally.  
Her eyes traveled up and down his costume. She had an odd look on her face.  
"You must be a superhero," she said, finally. "Well I'm Sam." She stuck her hand out to shake.  
The Flash looked down at the cat, then back up at Sam. He shook her hand.  
"Hi. I'm the Flash, fastest man alive. Um…you wrote for help?"  
Sam narrowed her eyes. "Yeah, I did. Despite this place being very interesting, I'd rather like to get back to my lab an examine some of these leaf samples." She waved some leaves encased in plastic at him.  
"However, it seems that Kim can only transport me home through the grey room. And that's a problem because every time I try to enter, I'm stopped by these ugly red and purple monsters. They're really hideous."  
The Flash shrugged. "Maybe I can talk to them."  
Sam frowned. "Talking won't help. I already tried that. They growled at us and chased us downriver for miles."  
"You and Kim, you mean."  
"And my brother." Sam smiled.  
"Your brother?" Flash looked around the surrounding vegetation. There didn't seem to be any movement.  
"He's out there somewhere," Sam continued. "He'll be along. So can you take these monsters or can't you?"  
The Flash puffed up his chest. "I think I can handle it."

* * *

Sam and Kim lead the way back to the grey room. It looked kind of like a shed from the outside.  
"Alright, so where are they?" the Flash asked.  
"Just wait a minute," said Sam. "They only appear when I try to go in. Watch."  
Before Flash could tell her to let him do it, she hopped over some bushes and ran to the door. It was closed now, unlike before.  
She reached out, ever so slowly to open the door and…  
Something invisible shoved her backwards. She would have fallen if Flash hadn't jumped up and grabbed her.  
"Thanks," she said, standing upright.  
"I didn't see anything," Flash said. "It looked like you were shoved back by…nothing."  
Sam nodded. "Yeah, they're invisible the first time you try. But if you try a second time, they appear and try to club you." She brushed some dirt off of her pants.  
"Hey I have an idea," Flash said. "Why don't I just run up there and open the door?"  
"Because they'll hit you…? Don't you think I've tried running?"  
Flash turned and grinned at her. "I can run faster than you, trust me."  
"Whatever," she said. "I still don't see how it'll help, because you'll be over there and I'll be here."  
"I can carry you," said Flash.  
"Well that makes running a bit pointless don't you thIIIIN-"  
Flash had scooped her up, grabbed the cat and zoomed over to the door before she could finish talking. However, the creatures were waiting for him. The appeared, red and purple just as Sam had described. They were vaguely humanoid in shape, but they reminded Flash more of golems. They had black, squinty eyes and an odd fin thing on their heads. Their hands were large and blocky, and in them they held large clubs, easily bigger than a human.  
Flash skidded to a stop. It took Sam a moment to regain her senses and notice them.  
"Look out!" she shouted.  
Flash zipped out of the way of a club, and continued running. It was pretty tiring carrying another human, so he had to stop pretty quickly. He set Sam down about two miles away.  
"Wow," she said as she got her balance back. "Aren't you speedy."  
"Nah, actually that's Green Arrow's sidekick," Flash replied as he checked to see if the monsters were following. When he turned back to Sam, he noticed she had that odd look on her face again, as if she were examining him like she had been that tree.  
"What?"  
"Moving at those speeds must surely involve light and tachyons." She had her scientist mode on now. "Maybe even traveling through alternate dimensions like Kim?"  
Flash muttered something about the Speed Force.  
"Can we get back to the subject at hand?" he said. "We've got these guys, and they're guarding the only way back. Somehow, they saw me coming, even though I was going pretty fast."  
Sam nodded. "Speedsters, like you?"  
"Not sure," said Flash. "Maybe. They don't exactly look built for running though."  
"A speedster doesn't have to be built for running," Sam said.  
Flash was about to ask what the heck she was talking about when he heard a something snap in the jungle behind him.  
He swiveled around, assuming a defensive stance in front of Sam.  
Was it the purple/red things? How'd they gotten so close without making much sound?  
Whatever was coming started crashing towards them…


End file.
